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August 30, 2010

As a writer, it's your duty to find ways to spice up your writing, nay, spice up your very sentences. Using active voice and not too much 'to be' verb is a start. Not always writing the same sentence length or following the structure of subject-verb-adjective-object is also good. Eradicate the adverb from your memory banks? Yes, dear god, yes.

But there is so much more out there my friends! Like the paraprosdokian (from Greek "παρα-", meaning "beyond" and "προσδοκία", meaning "expectation") sentence.

The paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax. For this reason, it is extremely popular among comedians and satirists.

Some paraprosdokians not only change the meaning of an early phrase, but also play on the double meaning of a particular word, creating a syllepsis. Another great one to try. Here's an example, as I remember it, from a story written by one of my students years ago, "She was pink with tulle and perspiration." You pick two very disparate things that can both be linked back to the original word, and put them together. It has the same effect as a good metaphor. The trick is not to force it. Don't look like you spent longer than two seconds creating it.

Some examples of funny paraprosdokian sentences (if they're not your style, write mean or dark or wry ones. Make it your own).

If you're really into this, there's a Facebook group for it (of course!):